Greetings all!
I hope that the weather has finally gotten a little cooler for you and that we all can put summer away!
It was a very good summer. Not saying anything negative (LOL) but it IS time to move forward to 2025 and boy, are we! Audition dates are posted, audition packets are for sale, and registrations are going well. I am expecting another strong turnout at all four of our auditions (Houston on November 24, NorCal on December 6-8, SoCal on December 13-15, and Connecticut on December 22). Please note that Connecticut is brass only and will be hosted by our very own Dr. Ricardo Brown at UConn. How cool is that!
We already held our Sacramento workshop on October 22 at Bella Vista High School near Sacramento. We had a great turnout with about 120 young people attending. It was quite successful as both our drum corps and Immortal Winds staff worked with the students and introduced them to the Mandarins. I'd like to thank Phil Allen for driving the Dragon to/from the school and Jeanne Pletcher for helping with check-in.
In case you aren’t aware, the drum corps has some new staff who have come on board for the 2025 season. You should check out the Mandarins website https://www.mandarins.org/staff to virtually meet them. I am pretty jazzed with the skill sets that they bring to both the design team and to the instructional team. And yes, we have also brought back many of the team players who have played such an important part in the growth of the drum corps the past few years. Speaking of staff, the designers have been hard at work developing the 2025 program and from what I have seen and heard it is going to be another crowd-pleasing show that the members and staff will also enjoy performing and bringing to life!
The 2025 DCI (Drum Corps International) tour schedule has been quite the work in progress this year and I can say that we are just about finalized with our 2025 tour plans. While I can't provide any specifics, let's just say that I am pretty pleased with how the tour has evolved and I am looking forward to being able to share it with you in just a few weeks.
As we transition deeper into Fall, please stay in touch as we will be looking for some help at the upcoming NorCal & SoCal audition camps.
Until the next time - take care, stay safe, and sane (well, at least safe)!
Ciao,
JW
Corps Director
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